Hogg, Hogg, and Hog by Margie Palatini

from goodreads

1.5 stars

Well the school year is winding down here. Every summer I have these grand plans in my head. Each week we will have a theme with activities and it will be so cool and I will win the super mom of the year award. Then reality hits, or rather the humidity and we are lucky if we get out of our pyjamas.

Well this year is no different. I have these grand ideas still in my head. The trick will be to have them prepared before school ends so I am not scrambling during the actual summer. We will see how it goes.

I guess that is the great thing about summer. Being able to just chill and take a break from it all. It is nice not having to worry about schedules or getting lunches made in the morning. I just want to make sure that my children don't turn into turnips by watching to much youTube!

Synopsis

Well, from what I can gather, these three pigs moved from the farm into the city and had a great marketing ploy that made everyone think that oinking was the greatest thing ever. When oinking began to be passe they begin to think up the next great thing to become relevant.

My Thoughts

I don't mean to be harsh, and I am sure that the author worked hard crafting this story and making the illustrations, but, for a kids book, this was a waste of paper. This almost seemed to be a adult book masquerading as a children's book. My kids did not like this book at all. When we finished reading it (which is a miracle because I wanted to give up multiple times through and it is only like 30 pages or something) my 5 year old looked at me and said "I don't get it". Me neither.

The story did not flow at all which made it hard to know what was really happening. It was so choppy going from headlines, to story, to some other format. It was hard for me to follow, let alone kids. How did these pigs convince people to oink? Wouldn't people notice that they are pigs?

I think what the author was trying to do was show kids the importance of thinking for themselves and not just doing things because it is the current fad because fads come and go. That is an important lesson.  But, unless you have a really exceptional kid who is good at reading behind the lines, no child is going to get it. They are just going to say, "well, that was a weird book".

If you see this at the library, don't bother bringing it home. If you want to see for yourself why I gave it 1.5 stars, quickly browse it there and then put it back on the shelf. Sometimes when I see people give something a bad review I think "surely it can't be that bad". Sometimes it isn't, a lot of the time it truly is. Happy Reading! (Hopefully not this book.)